Ok, time to start rolling these official threads out. Let's try to keep all talk with the team to this thread. Separate threads for specific issues/players are welcomed, but the daily banter of the season and the team should be kept here.

Not a fan of Brantley leadoff, but understand it. Think he'll be overmatched early on, but hope I'm wrong. Lil suprised with O-Cab ahead of Kearns, 6th just seems like an odd spot for his bat, plus thought maybe Acta would break up the only 3 true righties we had.

Hopefully this lineup gives the ChiSox hell on Friday

Last edited by Hermie13 on Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

...plus thought maybe Acta would break up the only 2 true righties we had..

huh? So which one of Laporta, O-Cabby or Kearns is the "fake" righty?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR... it's gonna be sooooo cold on Friday... Isn't it just like usual, when a big crowd is expected, weather in Cleveland will be putting a "damper" on the proceedings... Well.. it could be worse. The weather people are forecasting a foot of snow for the eastern seaboard.. boo hoo nyy fans...

TonyIPI wrote:Trevor Crowe underwent athroscopic debridement of his right shoulder yesterday in NY. He is expected to be out about four months.

Ouch. Real tough break for Crowe. Only will have a 4-5 weeks (well maybe more depending when he starts a rehab) to play at AAA then before their season is over...then a September callup to only be buried behind guys like Carrera and (hopefully) Weglarz. Will be a minor miracle if he's still with the Tribe this time next year.

TonyIPI wrote:Trevor Crowe underwent athroscopic debridement of his right shoulder yesterday in NY. He is expected to be out about four months.

Ouch. Real tough break for Crowe. Only will have a 4-5 weeks (well maybe more depending when he starts a rehab) to play at AAA then before their season is over...then a September callup to only be buried behind guys like Carrera and (hopefully) Weglarz. Will be a minor miracle if he's still with the Tribe this time next year.

Got to agree with you on that statement (in bold) Hermie. I'm figuring that Crowe will be a roster casualty after the season as the Tribe looks to add roughly 6 players (not currently on the 40 man) before the next roster deadline in Nov 2011.

TonyIPI wrote:Trevor Crowe underwent athroscopic debridement of his right shoulder yesterday in NY. He is expected to be out about four months.

Ouch. Real tough break for Crowe. Only will have a 4-5 weeks (well maybe more depending when he starts a rehab) to play at AAA then before their season is over...then a September callup to only be buried behind guys like Carrera and (hopefully) Weglarz. Will be a minor miracle if he's still with the Tribe this time next year.

Got to agree with you on that statement (in bold) Hermie. I'm figuring that Crowe will be a roster casualty after the season as the Tribe looks to add roughly 6 players (not currently on the 40 man) before the next roster deadline in Nov 2011.

Depends. Hannahan, Buck, Everett, OCab, Kearns and Durbin are all unlikely to be here next year (Buck seems the most likely). Duncan, Huff, Valbuena and perhaps a reliever could also end up being cut. Goedert would certainly be in danger. There's also the possibility that the Indians don't pick up the option on Sizemore. Crowe could slide by another year, or even just until a free agent is signed/added to the roster.

To bad for Trevor, I like him but think that this pretty much guarantees he wont be on the roster when it matters next season. Not saying he won't stay in the system, but with Weglarz, EZ and others (Henry, Buck even) around doesn't seem like he's gonna make it.

I am so excited for this season! If they contend even better, but personally think that the line-up is improved offensively and defensively. Starting pitching is dicey. Lets go tribe - lets stay in 1st place!

Looking beyond the final score, which sucked, I have to say I found more positives than negatives out of this game.

If you look at this game objectively, we saw everything we knew going in: we have a shaky/inconsistent rotation, we play good defense, we have a solid bullpen, we have a more contact approach to hitting, and this offense has the chance to be really good.

Obviously we all felt Carmona would be the one guy we can rely on, and we probably will be able to over the course of the season. I mean, shoot, I recall Cliff Lee getting BOMBED his first two outings in 2009 after winning the Cy Young the previous year.

But, really, aside from Carmona and Germano, I see a positive with every other player except maybe Kearns. Really liked how we came back....and liked what I saw from this offense. I see a lot of 2004 in this team already.

Carlos Santana is everything we had hoped for and more. Looked really solid today, both at the plate and defensively.

Was a bit disappointed in Choo's baserunning blunder on what should have been a Hafner double. Speaking of Hafner, good start to the season for him. I'll be happy if we can get .270 18 HR 80 RBI from him.

Rocky55 wrote:Who needs Aramis Ramirez when you have Jack Hanahan(my early season MOST liked player)? Isn't he tied with Andy Marte for HR's in a season by an Indians 3B in the last 3 yrs?

At least he hit the ball .... just was a bit disappointed that he did not dive or in position to stop two hard bouncers up the line. Then he just missed on over the shoulder catch. Thought he was suppose to be a good defender and it seemed that he hit but didn't defend the hot corner.

With Carmona, he got lite up the 4th inning and part of the 3rd. But, the ball seemed to have eyes through our porous infield.

Aside from Carmona, who has earned the benefit of the doubt, I don't see too many negatives today. Santana is back and beastly. LaPorta, Hafner and Brantley all showed signs of life at the dish. The veterans they've picked up have some initial promise. And while Germano is ultimately only the mop up guy, you have to like how Herrman and Pestano looked out of the pen.

Last year, the offense was abysmal. The starters weren't bad (especially in the first half of the year) and the bullpen was excellent. The offense has clearly been upgraded, and so has the defense. Even if Hannahan turns into Nix 2.0 at the plate, he's a better defender. LaPorta is improved. OCab is better than Valbuena. Brantley is looking better than Crowe. Santana is obviously leaps and bounds better than Marson. These things are huge. Seeing the offense explode like this is really the best possible sign for the Tribe for this year.

1. The Tribe scored nine runs off left-handed pitching, including four off a guy that shut them out on Opening Day last year. If they can score consistently off lefties this year that would be huge. This has been a problem for years.

2. Santana got three hits batting right-handed, including a dinger. He hit .146 right-handed with the Tribe last year.

Oh yeah, they also forced Crain to throw 34 pitches which probably takes him out of today's game. And they got two hits off Chris Sale with only three batters.

ESPN said Fausto gave up more earned runs on Opening Day than any pitcher since 1919. What's ironic is that the Tribe honored Bob Feller, who pitched an Opening Day no-hitter for them. Then Fausto goes out and puts up the worst Opening Day performance in 92 years. Nowhere to go but up for Fausto.

Well, we lost on Opening Day, as usual. Glad that's out of the way. Now we can start the season.

The CWSox starting rotation and their potent lineup is their alleged strength.. They didn't disappoint w/r to these two areas.. the CWSox pen is their alledged weakness.. okay.. same result...

The CWSox won part one of game one 14-0.. Indians won part two of game one 10-1.. hmm.. Some observations:

1. Pestano came after the CWSox like a rabid dog smelling a rotting carcass.. just blew them away..2. Soup'Herrmann has some off speed pitches that can be described as knee bucklers..3. Top/Heart of the Indians order.. can all hit.. 4. Austin Kearns needs regular at bats..5. Indian fans committed three errors... two by the same guy in left field.. Fans have to get better CATCHING the ball!!..

Game Two has CarCar v Edlose Jackson.. time to focus on winning the series.. and that starts with winning today..

The CWSox starting rotation and their potent lineup is their alleged strength.. They didn't disappoint w/r to these two areas.. the CWSox pen is their alledged weakness.. okay.. same result...

The CWSox won part one of game one 14-0.. Indians won part two of game one 10-1.. hmm.. Some observations:

1. Pestano came after the CWSox like a rabid dog smelling a rotting carcass.. just blew them away..2. Soup'Herrmann has some off speed pitches that can be described as knee bucklers..3. Top/Heart of the Indians order.. can all hit.. 4. Austin Kearns needs regular at bats..5. Indian fans committed three errors... two by the same guy in left field.. Fans have to get better CATCHING the ball!!..

Game Two has CarCar v Edlose Jackson.. time to focus on winning the series.. and that starts with winning today..

Umm..ChiSox pen their weakness? Sale, Santos, Crain, Thornton...that's pretty tough. The Sox are very strong in every aspect of their club. Defense a little shaky, especially in the outfield, but they are very good. Not sure I understand your statement about Kearns.

I know it's only 2 games and 2 ugly loses, but I wonder what Antonetti's high tech computer is telling him? Forgive me if I'm mistaken but isn't that how this team is managed by this Shapiro/Antonetti regime?

Last season when Kearns was getting regular at bats.. he hit for both average and power.. He was dealt to a club that gave him an at bat here.. an at bat there.. but nothing consistent.. If he's going to play on the North Coast, he has to get regular at bats.. otherwise he becomes a befuddled .232 Andy Marte-like disaster..

-Jack Hannahan comes as advertised with the glove.. and has a decent swing at the plate.. he could delay the "future" 3B's arrival if he can keep it up...

-Both Choo & LaPorta seem inbetween.. swinging over the top of sliders and not catching up to fastballs.. neither is making consistent/good contact in the early going..

-Both Brantley and Droobs have been "setting the table" early...

-Hafner has swung the bat for two days with "mean intentions".. it's nice to see..

-Carlos Santana is aggressive as any young hitter I've seen in a long while.. he just crushes anything on the plate..

-Even though he gave up the runs early, (he was clearly over throwing / amped up ), it became a good job to keep the team in the game and get some length.. 6.2 IP.. Too many pitches catching too much of the plate..

This is a damn good CWSox team.. While I doubt they score 12 runs a game all season.. they have the guns to really hammer the ball..

GeronimoSon wrote:Last season when Kearns was getting regular at bats.. he hit for both average and power.. He was dealt to a club that gave him an at bat here.. an at bat there.. but nothing consistent.. If he's going to play on the North Coast, he has to get regular at bats.. otherwise he becomes a befuddled .232 Andy Marte-like disaster..

-Jack Hannahan comes as advertised with the glove.. and has a decent swing at the plate.. he could delay the "future" 3B's arrival if he can keep it up...

-Both Choo & LaPorta seem inbetween.. swinging over the top of sliders and not catching up to fastballs.. neither is making consistent/good contact in the early going..

-Both Brantley and Droobs have been "setting the table" early...

-Hafner has swung the bat for two days with "mean intentions".. it's nice to see..

-Carlos Santana is aggressive as any young hitter I've seen in a long while.. he just crushes anything on the plate..

-Even though he gave up the runs early, (he was clearly over throwing / amped up ), it became a good job to keep the team in the game and get some length.. 6.2 IP.. Too many pitches catching too much of the plate..

This is a damn good CWSox team.. While I doubt they score 12 runs a game all season.. they have the guns to really hammer the ball..

Yes, Hannahan has been impressive these first two games, but get real here. He's a career .227 hitter. Very good defensive third baseman, and that's all we need from him. He will be hitting .200 by the end of the month. I don;t see him taking playing time for Chisenhall. Reminds me of last year when Kearns was hitting .400 at the end of April. Speaking of which, he hit .272 with 8 HRs with us last year in a little over half a year. If you want regular at-bats for a 16 HR bat, let me see more of Buck. I'm all for having Kearns around, but not as an everyday player.

homerawayfromhome wrote:I'm with you Tony, nothing against kearns I live where he's from but I'd love to see him traded for some cash to spend on some '11 draft picks or internat'l FA's.

If you look at the numbers, wouldn't the most sense by a Kearns/Buck lefty/righty platoon. Ultimately you would think that duo who be really good if Kearns is only hitting against lefties and Buck is only hitting against righties. We could get rid of Kearns I suppose and replace him with Duncan in the platoon, but to me Austin Kearns batting 7th in our lineup is the least of our problems. He makes like 1.3 million, is that really gonna buy you that much in the draft or on the intl free agent market?

homerawayfromhome wrote:I'm with you Tony, nothing against kearns I live where he's from but I'd love to see him traded for some cash to spend on some '11 draft picks or internat'l FA's.

If you look at the numbers, wouldn't the most sense by a Kearns/Buck lefty/righty platoon. Ultimately you would think that duo who be really good if Kearns is only hitting against lefties and Buck is only hitting against righties. We could get rid of Kearns I suppose and replace him with Duncan in the platoon, but to me Austin Kearns batting 7th in our lineup is the least of our problems. He makes like 1.3 million, is that really gonna buy you that much in the draft or on the intl free agent market?

Actually, Kearns had a reverse platoon split last year (.749 OPS vs RHP, .740 OPS vs. LHP), and his career split is somewhat negligible (.766 vs RHP, .797 vs. LHP). If you're looking for a guy who matches up with lefties exclusively, that would be Duncan (.823 vs LHP career, .641 vs RHP), but you would obviously be getting much worse defense out of that deal.

@ theshow Of course 1.3 mil isn't going to buy much...Levon Washington signed for 1.25 milTony Wolters 1.3 milAlex Lavisky 1 mil...Good enough for me, and how many of the int'l FA's could they sign? At least 5 or more. I understand righty / lefty situations and I'm not the biggest subscriber to it, but the Indians love the numbers so I'd say they would use Duncan and Buck and then turn Kearns spot into a RH catcher to back up Santana, so Marson could further develop with his bat at AAA. BTW he had a pretty good day at the dish today.

homerawayfromhome wrote:I'm with you Tony, nothing against kearns I live where he's from but I'd love to see him traded for some cash to spend on some '11 draft picks or internat'l FA's.

If you look at the numbers, wouldn't the most sense by a Kearns/Buck lefty/righty platoon. Ultimately you would think that duo who be really good if Kearns is only hitting against lefties and Buck is only hitting against righties. We could get rid of Kearns I suppose and replace him with Duncan in the platoon, but to me Austin Kearns batting 7th in our lineup is the least of our problems. He makes like 1.3 million, is that really gonna buy you that much in the draft or on the intl free agent market?

Moot point in two weeks once Grady returns. One of Kearns, Buck, or Duncan has to go as well. I vote Kearns, but Acta is indicating that that won't be the case.

homerawayfromhome wrote:@ theshow Of course 1.3 mil isn't going to buy much...Levon Washington signed for 1.25 milTony Wolters 1.3 milAlex Lavisky 1 mil...Good enough for me, and how many of the int'l FA's could they sign? At least 5 or more.

I agree with you. I have gone on record as saying we should spend twice as much as any other team in the draft every year, upwards of 30 million. Doesn't make any sense that no team does that, unless maybe if you abuse going overslot that much, the MLB would come in and stop you. At the same time, what have Levon Washington, Tony Wolters, and Alex Lavisky done to help the major league team? Answer: nothing

homerawayfromhome wrote:@ theshow Of course 1.3 mil isn't going to buy much...Levon Washington signed for 1.25 milTony Wolters 1.3 milAlex Lavisky 1 mil...Good enough for me, and how many of the int'l FA's could they sign? At least 5 or more. I understand righty / lefty situations and I'm not the biggest subscriber to it, but the Indians love the numbers so I'd say they would use Duncan and Buck and then turn Kearns spot into a RH catcher to back up Santana, so Marson could further develop with his bat at AAA. BTW he had a pretty good day at the dish today.

Thing is, it would be in addition to what they have already budgeted for the draft/international signings. This could be a guy like Lincecum (i.e. a late round draft choice that wants 1st round $$$$).

Anything could happen that creates a roster spot between now and the time Grady is ready, I'd say they throw Duncan on the 60 day dl with an infected splinter from riding the pine too hard.

Personally I don't care too much if Kearns is traded, or if the potential player drafted, signed as a FA makes in impact this yr. It would be more about taking a calculated risk on some upper level prospects, at some point blanketing the farm system with talent will produce major league qlty talent. Rather than getting a return on him this yr, I guess what I'm saying is that I would redirect that money bc of the emergence of Buck, and potential of EZCarrera to play as a 4th Of and the tribe still has Crowe if he returns healthy.

I'm all about growing your own talent with the eye always looking to add more. Free agency isn't going to help the tribe but the draft and int'l FA's can help realistically build the franchise into a contender. To do so they must always be aggressive on this front I'd rather have to make difficult decisions on the roster every yr than scratch my head and guess if there's enough real talent to fill a 40 man roster. The tribe won't really start to feel the pinch until next tr and the following yr as some of this talent really starts to blossom.

Also remember that 1.3M isn't really 1.3M. If you traded Kearns today, the only savings would be whatever is left of the 900k difference between his salary and the league minimum they would have to pay any rookie taking his place. IIRC, the way pay works in the MLB is that each year of a contract starts being paid when the off-season starts (or whenever the contract is signed) and runs until November of the post-season. Kearns signed in December, so he's probably at least a third of the way through the contract, meaning that the actual savings would be around $600k. Maybe less.

Was at the game today as well as the opener. Here's a couple things I noticed:

OCab has like no range imo. He doesn't move well and looks like he is old. Maybe that is him not playing over there really but he just looks slow.

Carlos "AxeMan" Santana is an animal. He is the only guy since Manny Ramirez that I feel like is going to get a hit every single time he's at the plate.

Hafner just looks more comfortable swinging the bat right now. I hope he can do it all year, would make things a lot easier.

It's kinda nice having the ball hit to third base and not wondering if the play is going to be made.

I wouldn't be surprised if Brantley is the odd man out when Sizemore comes back. First of all he has options, they want to see what they have with Buck and imo he really looks like the bat gets knocked out of his hand at the plate. He got that gift double Friday and other than that his a singles guy that isn't walking. I know its only three games but this is something I'd really keep an eye on over the next couple weeks. Especially with Buck getting a start against Danks (a lefty) today.

If we can get league average starting pitching we are going to be a problem for a lot of teams. Our offense is leaps and bounds better and deeper than last years team. I really like our bullpen and if they don't get overworked because of starters not going 6+ very often this isn't that bad of a team.

Will be very interesting to see what the Indians do when Grady comes back. One of Kearns, Buck, or Brantley goes right? I'd think Duncan hangs around because of his RH bat and ability to backup 1B and be a platoon guy vs LH in the outfield.

They just added Buck to the roster....and Brantley is a guy who needs to play....and Kearns has a guaranteed 7 figure salary....so will be interesting for sure.

Hated them when I first saw them. The only way they would work is if they were a darker shade of red and the "C" had some white piping or something. You need the logo to draw the eye when you're using such an obnoxious background color.

They could just go with a red-brimmed version of the blue block-c cap, or... if they really wanted to be radical, have the cap match the cream/white jerseys.

TonyIPI wrote:Will be very interesting to see what the Indians do when Grady comes back. One of Kearns, Buck, or Brantley goes right? I'd think Duncan hangs around because of his RH bat and ability to backup 1B and be a platoon guy vs LH in the outfield.

They just added Buck to the roster....and Brantley is a guy who needs to play....and Kearns has a guaranteed 7 figure salary....so will be interesting for sure.

I think that interest is going to extend to many players that will be returning in the first half of the year. I would be inclined to see Buck replaced by Sizemore. The last i heard we are likely to add Jason Donald and Joe Smith by month end as well. That would seem to be the end of Everitt and Germano from what i see. IF things go according to plan, Johnson comes back in May and we have to make a change in the 40 and I would expect that to be Duncan.